Town wants more from developer

Susan Bacon

Thursday, July 10, 2003

The Sierra View Development Group will have to meet several new requirements before its proposed subdivision south of Oak Creek can be approved for annexation, Town Board members decided at Thursday night's meeting.

The due date for the development group's impact statement was extended to July 20, and the public hearing on the subdivision is scheduled to take place Aug. 18.

The board is requiring that the annexation of the subdivision property takes place only after the subdivision is approved, and is also requiring that the development group provide a performance bond in the town's name to cover costs of infrastructure and other improvements the town will provide for the subdivision.

Both of those steps will help make sure the town doesn't lose if the deal goes through, Mayor Cargo Rodeman said.

If the annexation were to take place before the subdivision plan was locked in, it's feasible that the development group could sell the land off in pieces, leaving the town responsible for dealing with individual landowners instead of with one development, Rodeman said. Making sure the subdivision plan is approved first will prevent that from happening.

The bonds would ensure that if the development group were to go bankrupt during the building process, the town would not be stuck with the costs of infrastructure changes that would be made in the process.

Board members agreed to request a financial statement from the developers, something that has not yet been done. Trustees also decided to ask the developers to help pay for some of the costs that already have resulted from consideration of the development.

"Once we annex, we can't un-annex," Rodeman said.

The developers involved, Tim Geiger and Dave Tweedy, have proposed a subdivision with 50 homesites on 18.64 acres just south of town. Neither was present at Thursday night's meeting.

Rodeman said from what she has seen, the subdivision's design does not fit with what she has heard that some people want.

"All of my constituents prefer it become an addition of Oak Creek keeping with the grid," Rodeman said.